So, we’ve been here in Perth for a month and so far, so good. I’m sure different people will see the place differently but as there are a few talking about coming over, I thought I’d share out initial impressions:

Probably due to it being spring, the whole place looks a lot greener than we expected.When it rains, it’s all-or-nothing. You don’t get hours of light rain here, you get a heavy shower usually accompanied by a strong wind to give you a feeling similar to standing in front of a pressure washer.

Every house we’ve been in has shockingly bad windows. We’re coming to the end of our stay in a new-ish $1.5M house (didn’t book it – long story) and even that has single glazing which doesnt close properly and when it rains really hard, you get puddles on the inside sills! I’ve yet to see a house with double glazing.

You need to get used to traffic lights – They’re everywhere.

Buy an automatic, not a manual (see above)

Most people drive exactly at the speed limit. This makes freeway (motorway) driving either very annoying or very easy, depending on your mood.

Buy a car with cruise control (see above)

All the Brits moan about the cost of things because they’re still spending pounds in their head. You need to understand that Perth is a very isolated place in a pretty isolated country – It costs a lot to get stuff here and you have to pay for that. Once you start earning dollars it seems a lot better.

Most of the TV shows are British or American. American Pickers, Storage Wars and Repo Man are quite entertaining and currently you’ll find at least one of these on TV every night.The nightly “news” is a sports news show with a few other items at the start.

The free-to-air TV is like having 10 versions of Channel 5. (UK)

Foxtel (Sky equivalent) is just like Sky – Loads of channels filled with repeats and crap.

Every other ad on the TV is for a health supplement.

Perth city centre is clean, small and feels like a nice place to be.

The trains are great.

You can park most places for free. Parking for the train is a couple of dollars for all day parking – Unless you’re lucky enough to get one of the free spaces.

You’ll find yourself killing everything that resembles a spider if it is within a few feet of your house let alone IN the house!

Lots of people are into keeping fit – They’ll be power walking from 6AM.

People get up early and go to bed early.

There are scummy, lazy, work-shy people here too.

The woman are not as attractive as I was expecting (this pleased the wife!)

When you hear a V8 roaring up alongside you, don’t look up expecting to see a nice car – It’ll be a 10yr old Holden (Looking rather like a Vauxhall Omega)

A ute is hopelessly impractical – Thanks to my employer for lending me one for 2 weeks so I could find this out whilst doing the shopping on a rainy day.

The rental market is nowhere near as bad as some other forums would have you believe. However, if you’re looking at the low end of the spectrum, expect a lot of competition. After all, everyone loves a bargain.

A cheap house is rarely a bargain. The cheap ones are cheap for a reason.

Pay $600+ a week for a nice place. You’ll also have a lot less competition. Go to as many viewings as you can to learn how the process works and get a feel for it.

Joondalup is like an Australian Milton Keynes.

Supermarket chickens sometimes still have the neck attached.

Kangaroo steak is quite good but kangaroo mince does not make a good chilli.

Learn to love millipedes.

There seems to be a lot more new cars north of the river than there are down south. Maybe this is a sign of relative wealth or maybe it's a sign of people in the north getting things on credit.

I feel quite settled because I've been at work for 2 weeks and whilst it's a differen company and a different product, its really just the same st, different product.

We're coming to the end of a 4 week stay in Mindarie before moving down to Hillarys on Saturday. Its a shame because we were just gettling settled in the Mindarie house! The Hillarys house is a 12 month lease though so hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll feel settled once more.

Funny you should mention a crewcab ute - I was looking at a Holden Crewman SS on the freeway this morning. I've not seen any of the newer shape around theough and a quick google seems to say that they ditched the crewman with the previous shape

Funny you should mention a crewcab ute - I was looking at a Holden Crewman SS on the freeway this morning. I've not seen any of the newer shape around theough and a quick google seems to say that they ditched the crewman with the previous shape

Didn't sell enough compared to the Hilux/Navara/L200.

They are a funny old beast, I recon with a new LS lump and a manual box they could be quite fun with that length wheelbase ..

Great reading 200bhp. We're awaiting VISAs and hope to be off to Oz in the New Year - poss Perth, so interesting to read your 'take' on things. My sister-in-law has just moved there, I'll have to see if her impression is similar.

I am an aussie living in London, orginally from Sydney, (never been to Perth). I notice most Brits seem to go to live in Perth, is this a visa requirement or is it because there happens to be more work there ? (and I spose the plane flight is about 4 or 5 hrs shorter lol)

I am an aussie living in London, orginally from Sydney, (never been to Perth). I notice most Brits seem to go to live in Perth, is this a visa requirement or is it because there happens to be more work there ? (and I spose the plane flight is about 4 or 5 hrs shorter lol)

There are more Brits than Aussies (26% vs 24% or something at the last census).

Dunno why though. I'm an Aussie that went walkabout to the UK for 20 years and have come back.

Off to Perth in a month so this is really useful stuff, thanks 200bhp.$600 was looking like our upper limit for a rental, we'll have to see how things look when we get out there. We have a month in a short term let to find our feet.

Once you are here, get a 'Smartrider' card from a newsagent ($20 - $10 for the card, $10 for credit), and then the next day, go onto the TransPerth website and link the card to your debit card. You'll then get 25% off rail fares. It's a tag on/off system that works pretty well.

There are 5 main lines and they are only two tracks (up and down) on each line. So if something goes wrong, it has a big impact.

Last week the one line up north had issues (the overhead line broke, and a passing train caught it and pulled down the wire over a long distance). It was 2/3 days before it was back up and running. They put on replacement bus services, but it was a struggle for a lot of people.

Its looking very likely that me and my OH are gonna end up in Perth in the new year, probably late Jan, early Feb.

We're coming out on a 1 year working visa to stay with her parents who already live in OZ. They currently live in Adelaide and have been over for 1 year now, but they're looking to give Perth a go in the new year.

I've no idea what work I'm gonna be doing. We fly out to Adelaide on 17th Dec for Xmas and new year, so probably just gonna have to find some short term manual/labouring work or something. For the last 10 years or so I've been working in sales in insurance, and having a quick scout about, I'm confident I can find somethin reasonably similar out there.

I've been in Perth since start of Sept, the other half arrives on Thursday. Love it so far - Much more relaxed way of working and very informal at times which seems weird coming from the UK. Seems a really active culture which is excellent as I really had to make the effort in Manchester but you can't really avoid it here!

Earning $ and spending $ makes all the difference, I rarely compare the cost of things to the UK already, it can be depressing if you do!

With the money from oil and gas and mining there's a ton of money around which seems to be well invested in new infrastructure and services. Buses and trains are (literally at times) a breath of fresh air compared to the UK. Main thing I've noticed is that people who were born or have lived in Perth a long time have no idea how good they've got it here.

Also, noticed that they love a rule here. Seems you can't do anything without some sort of form and be prepared to be questioned by bouncers if you look a bit pissed on a Friday/Saturday night and try and get into a bar - surely that's the point of going out!

Sounds promising. Cheers guys. Like I say, I've got a lot of loose ends to tie up here before I go, but when we get there, because we'll bbe staying with the in-laws for a while, where we live will be a bit out of our control.

I'm looking forward to it and see it as a great opportunity and a bit of a challenge. I'm not usually the sort of person who likes to be taken out of my comfort zone, hence being in the same job for 10 years. But screw it, might as well give it a go.

I think my savings are gonna take a big hit for the first few months, but hopefully we can get on our feet quickly and get earning some $ rather than spendning the £. The exchange rate has been pretty woeful for a long time, so that is a big motivator.

I'm looking forward to it and see it as a great opportunity and a bit of a challenge.

That is exactly the outlook I had before I came here.

Shouldn't be a problem getting a job here - there are loads of vacancies. My other half has applied for a few jobs already from the UK, and has been knocked back a couple of times only because she's still in the UK and can't make the formal interview and start the job early enough!

So, we’ve been here in Perth for a month and so far, so good. I’m sure different people will see the place differently but as there are a few talking about coming over, I thought I’d share out initial impressions:

Probably due to it being spring, the whole place looks a lot greener than we expected.When it rains, it’s all-or-nothing. You don’t get hours of light rain here, you get a heavy shower usually accompanied by a strong wind to give you a feeling similar to standing in front of a pressure washer.

Every house we’ve been in has shockingly bad windows. We’re coming to the end of our stay in a new-ish $1.5M house (didn’t book it – long story) and even that has single glazing which doesnt close properly and when it rains really hard, you get puddles on the inside sills! I’ve yet to see a house with double glazing.

You need to get used to traffic lights – They’re everywhere.

Buy an automatic, not a manual (see above)

Most people drive exactly at the speed limit. This makes freeway (motorway) driving either very annoying or very easy, depending on your mood.

Buy a car with cruise control (see above)

All the Brits moan about the cost of things because they’re still spending pounds in their head. You need to understand that Perth is a very isolated place in a pretty isolated country – It costs a lot to get stuff here and you have to pay for that. Once you start earning dollars it seems a lot better.

Most of the TV shows are British or American. American Pickers, Storage Wars and Repo Man are quite entertaining and currently you’ll find at least one of these on TV every night.The nightly “news” is a sports news show with a few other items at the start.

The free-to-air TV is like having 10 versions of Channel 5. (UK)

Foxtel (Sky equivalent) is just like Sky – Loads of channels filled with repeats and crap.

Every other ad on the TV is for a health supplement.

Perth city centre is clean, small and feels like a nice place to be.

The trains are great.

You can park most places for free. Parking for the train is a couple of dollars for all day parking – Unless you’re lucky enough to get one of the free spaces.

You’ll find yourself killing everything that resembles a spider if it is within a few feet of your house let alone IN the house!

Lots of people are into keeping fit – They’ll be power walking from 6AM.

People get up early and go to bed early.

There are scummy, lazy, work-shy people here too.

The woman are not as attractive as I was expecting (this pleased the wife!)

When you hear a V8 roaring up alongside you, don’t look up expecting to see a nice car – It’ll be a 10yr old Holden (Looking rather like a Vauxhall Omega)

A ute is hopelessly impractical – Thanks to my employer for lending me one for 2 weeks so I could find this out whilst doing the shopping on a rainy day.

The rental market is nowhere near as bad as some other forums would have you believe. However, if you’re looking at the low end of the spectrum, expect a lot of competition. After all, everyone loves a bargain.

A cheap house is rarely a bargain. The cheap ones are cheap for a reason.

Pay $600+ a week for a nice place. You’ll also have a lot less competition. Go to as many viewings as you can to learn how the process works and get a feel for it.

Joondalup is like an Australian Milton Keynes.

Supermarket chickens sometimes still have the neck attached.

Kangaroo steak is quite good but kangaroo mince does not make a good chilli.

Learn to love millipedes.

There seems to be a lot more new cars north of the river than there are down south. Maybe this is a sign of relative wealth or maybe it's a sign of people in the north getting things on credit.